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Back from vacation, Pasco man chases down burglars

A Pasco County resident returned from vacation Monday and found three armed men burglarizing his home.

His next move?

He chased them into Pinellas County, Pinellas sheriff's officials said.

The man hopped in his car and pursued a 1991 Honda Accord that carried the men south on U.S. 19, to the Bayside Bridge and then to 49th Street and Ulmerton Road, said Sgt. Tim Goodman, sheriff's spokesman.

Pinellas deputies picked up the chase at 6:45 p.m. and stopped the burglars' car at Haines Road.

Sheriff's officials arrested Ezra Gainer, 24; Eric Beaton, 22; and Murquese Beaton, 19, all of St. Petersburg.

TAMPA - A gun belonging to a suspect wanted in the recent shooting deaths of a Carrollwood woman and her boyfriend was the one used in the double homicide, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said on Monday.

The suspect, 63-year-old Michael Melberg, was shot to death in June by a Missouri highway patrol trooper after Melberg charged the trooper with a gun.

Melberg was killed as Hillsborough sheriff's deputies searched for him for questioning in the shooting deaths of Lorelei Fairall, 47, and her boyfriend, Michael Moore, 46.

The couple's bodies were found a few days earlier in Fairall's Carrollwood home. Melberg had briefly dated Fairall and was the subject of her two requests for domestic violence injunctions.

A .357-caliber handgun was found on Melberg after he was killed by the trooper, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Based on tests by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, authorities have confirmed the gun was the one used in the killings of Fairall and Moore, the office said.

The office closed the case, due to the "death of offender," it said.

TAMPA - Police are investigating the Sunday night shooting death of a 25-year-old Tampa roofer with a history of arrests on drug and burglary charges and violent crimes including manslaughter.

Warren Donnell Mitchell, of 1917 W Chestnut St., was driving his 1998 Cadillac east on W Columbus Drive about 11:15 p.m. when he pulled up next to Tampa police Officer Mike Holness. Mitchell told the officer he had been shot, and pulled in front of the patrol car at N St. Peter Avenue. Holness walked to the Cadillac, and when he opened the driver's side door, Mitchell slumped over and onto the pavement.

Tampa Fire Rescue took Mitchell to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Police say Mitchell was shot at least once in the torso, but they don't know yet where the shooting occurred. Spokesman Joe Durkin said homicide detectives are interviewing relatives.

State criminal records show Mitchell pleaded guilty in 1995 to manslaughter, vehicle theft and burglary and was sentenced to three years' probation. He was arrested twice after that on charges of violating probation, county jail

RIDGE MANOR WEST - Driving rain and slippery road conditions were partly to blame for a crash that left a Tampa man dead Monday morning on Interstate 75, authorities said.

As of Monday evening, the Florida Highway Patrol had not released the name of the 48-year-old man, pending notification of his relatives.

According to an FHP report, the man's sport-utility vehicle was traveling north on I-75 about 5:20 a.m. when it left the rain-soaked roadway.

The 2001 Toyota slid sideways into the west shoulder, about 4 miles south of the State Road 50 interchange, and struck a tree in the median, the report said.

The driver, who was wearing his seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was taken to the Medical Examiner's Office in Leesburg, where an autopsy will be performed.

The stretch of interstate through Hernando County has been the scene of several fatal accidents during the past year.